The Philadelphia Phillies will have a big decision to make this offseason regarding their superstar designated hitter Kyle Schwarber.
Schwarber is in the final year of his four-year, $79 million contract. The 32-year-old slugger is set to hit free agency at the end of the year, where he’s likely already earned himself a ton of money following his dominant start to the season.
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Through 59 games, Schwarber is slashing .266/.398/.584 with 19 home runs, 44 runs batted in, 43 walks and an OPS of .982. He has an unbelievable wRC+ of 170 and has generated 2.1 fWAR.
Schwarber has become a staple in the Philadelphia lineup, and his superstar teammate, Bryce Harper, doesn’t want to see him anywhere else at the start of next season.
“I don’t see him playing anywhere else,” Harper said to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Obviously I don’t make those decisions. But as a team leader and a captain and everything else, he brings so much value to our team.”
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Harper also raved about Schwarber’s evolution in the game of baseball, and his impact on the Phillies over the last four seasons.
“I have so much respect for Kyle and what he’s done in this game,” Harper said. “He’s become just such an impact bat, not just for our team but in all of baseball. He can hit a lefty, he can hit a righty, [hit] for power, everything else, so it’s been fun to watch. It’s been fun to be able to talk to him about things. I’m still trying to talk to him about how to pull a baseball into the seats.”
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Schwarber joined Philadelphia ahead of the 2022 season after spending six years with the Chicago Cubs and splitting the 2021 season between the Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox.
Schwarber has taken his game to another level since joining the Phillies, as he had a career-high 46 home runs in 2022, followed it up with a new career-high of 47 homers in 2023 and had 104 RBIs in back to back seasons in ’23 and ’24. He’s earned down ballot MVP votes in each of the last three seasons.
The Phillies are currently 36-23, just one game back of the New York Mets for first place in the NL East. It’s hard to imagine where they’d be without Schwarber, as he leads the team in home runs, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, wRC+ and fWAR.
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